Machine for cutting and skiving- boot-cottntebs



UNTTED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

VARANES SNELL, OF NORTH BRIDGEWATER, MASSACHUSETTS.`

MACHINE FOR CUTTING AND SKIVING BOOT-COUNTERS.

, 4Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,835, dated April 25, 1854.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, VARANES SNELL, of

vention, by which it may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent.

. l tion of the salnetaken in the plane of the The figures of the accompanying plates of drawings represent my new machine.`

In- Plate l, Figure 1 is a plan or top view of the machine. Fig. 2 is a transverse secline A B, Fig. l.` In Plate 2, Figs. 3, t and 5 are transverse sections taken in the plane of the line C D, representing the different positions of the mechanism at the various stages of the operation.

rPhe leather `from which the counters of boots and shoes are formed has `usually been first cut into rectangular pieces, which were then rounded and the edges .skived7 or beveled off by hand.` This operation has,

however, necessarily required considerable time and trouble onthe part of the work` man. l l

By my new machine thev counters are y rounded and beveled at the sameoperation,

and with much greater speed and nicety than can possiblybe accomplished by hand, at the same time eecting a very considerable saving in the stock.

The essential featuresof my machine consist in a vibrating clamp for holding the leather while it is being cut and for releasing it after the operation is iinished, and a traversing knife which travels in the arc of a circle and rounds and bevels the counter at the same time, the motions o-f the clamp and knife being effected at the proper times by a peculiar arrangement of mechanical devices, as will be hereinafter explained.

a a a a in the drawings represents the framework of the machine.

b Z9 is the leather clamp and c c the platform or bed piece upon which the leather is placed. This clamp b has an up and down motion imparted to it for holding and `releasing the ileather, as follows: The vertical Shaft a a is attached to the Clamp b b,

the said clamp turning, by its arm 4e e. 'on a fulcrum at The vertical shaft d (l is attached at its lower end by the sliding ypiece g g and short arm h to the cross lever v i z, one end of whichturns on a fulcrum in the framework of the machine. fend of this lever, and consequently the clamp, is depressed by the hooked pawl or` `catch r, turning on a pivot Z, by which it is attached to the vertical sliding bar m m. This bar fm, m travels between two guides 'n nf-n n, and is fastened to one end of the cross arm 0 o, the other end of which turns, lon a fulcrum in the framework a a, and is ,connected to the treadle p p, by the short ,arm g. It will be seen that as soon as the treadle is depressed, the'sliding bar m fm' `will begin to descend, carrying wit-h itthe The other` `hooked pawl 7c, which engages with the end -;of the cross lever z' z' and depresses it until lit arrives opposite the notch r of the plate s s, fastened to the side of the framework. ,The lever i z' will then be pressed by the lpawl 7c, (turning on its center Z) into the a -not-ch r, as shown in Fig. t, Pl. 2, and held `there until the sliding bar m m descends to'k its full extent, when it will be thrown out of the notch 7' by the bent spring t t, the` end of the bar m m being beveled ofi, so as to allow room for the lever' i i to be thrownV Aout of its notch was shown in Fig. 5, Pl. 2.]

The lever z' i, and consequently the clamp, is lthen raised or retracted by the spiral` spring fu, coiled around the upper end of the verrtical shaft CZ el, as shown in Fig. 2, Pl. 1-.` ,As soon as the bar m m begins to ascend (being retracted by; the `bent spring o c operating on the cross arm 0 o) the end of the lever will be pressed by the said bar- `m m into the upper notch fw of the plate s, 4and held there until the bar m m rises to its full extent, so as to bring the pawl is and corresponding notch in the bar m m, opposite the end of the lever z' z', when the said lever is made to engage again with the pawl by the action of the spring t t, the parts beiag then in the position shown in Fig. s, 1. 2.

I shall now proceed to describe the manner in which the leather is rounded and skived and the counter formed.

The knife a', Figs. l and 2 Pl. l, is set in the knifesstock or carriage e b, which is attached to the bent arm o c, turning on a sie centerl at CZ. This knife carriage b Z9 is made to vtravel forward and back in the curved groove f f, close to the platform on which the leather is placed, as follows: To the underside of the knife carriage is attached by means of a connecting link g, the lever h Z1. turning on a center at 77, in the front framework of the machine. This lever h 71, is made to trasverse across the machine and carry with it the knife carriage in its groove f f by depressing the treadle p p, which operates on the said lever through the cross arms lo la and Z Z, the arm Z0 k turning on a center at m in the framework a a, and being jointed to the arm Z Z by the connecting rod n. By the above arrangement when the treadle is depressed by the operator the knife carriage will travel close to the leather placed on the platform c c, and the knife a, which is inclined at the proper angle, will thus give the proper curve to the counter and skive or bevel its edges at the same time, as will readily be seen by inspection of Figs. l and 2, Pl. 1. The knife is then brought back to its first position, so as to be ready for another operation, as soon as the pressure upon the treadle is relieved, by the bent spring 0 o acting against the arm c c. The knife carriage, while thus traveling back, carries with it the counter and leaves the platform clear f or another piece of leather by means of a bent or hooked piece of steel p', (attached to the knife carriage,) the end of which engages with the leather ywhen the knife carriage is retracted. In order to keep the leather rigidly pressed upon the platform, a roller g presses upon the leather immediately in fro-nt of the knife and travels with. the knife carriage, being attached to the same by the bent spring arm r r.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that when the counter is being cut and skived by the traversing knife the clamp will be kept rigidly pressed upon the leather by the lever i z', which has then been depressed and thrown into the notch q", by the hooked pawl c, the lever i z' being kept in the notch r by the sliding bar m m, as

vshown in Fig. 5, Pl. 2.

It will be obvious that in case a very thick piece of leather is placed under the clamp the lever z' z' could not be sufficiently depressed to enter the notch 1^. In order to provide for this' contingency, the sliding piece g g (which, with the short arm h, forms the connection between the vertical shaft Z Z and lever z' Z) bears against a spiral spring t t, Fig. 2, Pl. l, coiled around the lower end of the shaft cZ cZ, so

that the lever z' will operate upon the said spring when the clamp is depressed to its greatest extent.

Having thus described my new machine I shall state my claims as follows:

What I claim as my invention and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent isl. Arranging the knife at a proper angle in a traversing knife carriage which has a reciprocating motion in the arc of a circle, for roundingv the counter and chamfering its edges, substantially as above described.

2. I claim holding the clamp upon the leather while the counter isbeing cut and 'l p K releasing it from the same after the operation is finished, by means of the traversing pawl Zo acting in combination with the lever z' z' and notched plate s s, as above set forth.

3. I claim a machine for cutting and skiving boot and shoe counters, which has a,

clamp for holding the leather while it is being cut and for releasing it after the operation is performed, and a traversing knife which moves in the arc of a circle and rounds and skives the counter at the same time as above set forth.

' VARANES SNELL.y Witnesses:

JOSEPH GAVETT, EZRA LINCOLN. 

